ARM Club 3/TheARMClub_PDCD3.iso/hensa/graphics/texture_2/!TexturGdn/!Help

Text File | 1996-12-01 | 12KB | 263 lines

          Texture Garden's !Help file
              ===========================
           1.00 © Tim Tyler 01-Dec-96

Index
~~~~~
1.0 Short description
1.1 Longer description

2.0 Getting started
2.1 Use of the mouse in the main window
2.2 Use of the mouse in the control window
2.3 Hotkey operations

3.0 Options

4.0 Preferences

5.0 A brief index to the rest of the documentation

1.0 Short description
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Texture Garden is an algorithmic texture generation program for RISC OS.

1.1 Longer description
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Texture Garden generates algorithmic textures using a range of techniques
including inverse two dimensional fast-fourier-transforms of filtered noise.
Genetic methods are used to seed the textures enabling breeding, selective
mutation, cultural transmission of colour and sexual recombination to be
implemented.  The program supports seamless tesselation, twenty-four bit
colour and full control over texture animation.

2.0 Getting started
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This program supports interactive help.  After loading the program onto the
icon bar, and viewing its main window, the first thing to do is to load some
textures.  The program should normally have been supplied with a reasonable
range of textures in the "Textures" directory.  These are plain text files
which may be dragged into the program's main window.  When one has been dragged
in, an hourglass will appear for a moment, and then the texture is displayed.

2.1 Use of the mouse in the main window
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Although the use of the mouse may seem a little complex from this description,
after a little use the more commonly used options should become intuitive.

Dragging with SELECT on a texture enables it to be moved between different
areas of the main window, allowing copies of the texture to be made.  If the
window has areas of different sizes then the texture will be appropriately
scaled.

Dragging with SELECT on the bottom and right-hand edges of a texture enables
it to be dynamically resized.  If the edges are dragged, resizing occurs in
one dimension, whereas if the corner is dragged, resizing in both dimensions
happens simultaneously.  Texture size is always considered to be relative to
the size of the icon it is being displayed in, so to make a texture larger
than the icon displaying it, you have to drag it to a larger icon.

Clicking with MENU will provide a "Texture" menu.  If the click is not over a
texture then the options will all be greyed out.  Otherwise an "Options" menu
will be displayed.  From the main "Texture" menu, the menu options will all
relate specifically to the texture clicked over.

The texture may have it's palette manipulated by the first option, "Palette".

The second option, "SaveSprite" allows the bitmap of the texture to be saved.
Hidden beneath the main icons here are a number of pieces of information
concerning the size of the sprite and the mode in which the texture was
generated.  These may be viewed by toggling the window's size.

The third option, "SaveText" allows the textfile generation program to be
exported as a text file.

Lastly the "Animation" option enables animation types to be selected and
animations of variable lengths to be exported.  The "Technical" file contains
more information about this.

These options are also available through the use of hotkeys and some are also
available by clicking with the mouse in conjunction with SHIFT, CTRL or ALT.
More information concerning this is given later in this file.

Clicking with ADJUST toggles the selection state of a texture.  This state is
indicated by a thickening of the border of the texture.  It means that the
texture is to be protected from being overwritten by the dragging in of new
textures, palettes or by the breeding process.

Double-clicking with SELECT on a texture initiates a breeding process which
produces offspring in all the other areas of the main window which are not
selected.  These offspring are variants on the parental type, with random
variations of a magnitude specified by the "mutation rate" bar in the control
window  The "Technical" file contains information about how the mutation
processes are carried out.

CTRL-dragging with SELECT enables the textfile generation program to be
exported directly without negotiating a menu structure.  ALT-dragging with
SELECT enables the bitmap of the texture to be saved in a similar manner.
SHIFT-dragging with SELECT enables just the palette to be dragged from one
texture to another.  This operation may also be performed by pressing and
holding ADJUST and then tapping MENU.  This allows the operation to be
executed without recourse to the menu or the keyboard.

2.2 Use of the mouse in the control window
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pressing MENU in a blank area of the control window produces the Options menu.

In the control window there are three texture areas marked "Mother", "Father"
and "Offspring".  These areas act in a similar manner to those in the main
window.  However they are unaffected by the generation of new textures by
mutating an original one.  They are also not able to be selected with ADJUST.

As you can probably guess from the names in this area, this is where sexual
recombination of the textures takes place.  By dragging textures into
both the "Mother" and "Father" slots and then pressing the "=" button, a new
texture is produced in the "Offspring" area, based on its parents.  Child
textures are heavily derived from the mother texture, with the father
contributing a few important bits of information here and there.  Textures
are not considered to have any sex, but not all textures will breed equally
well with one another.  While some textures are fertile, others produce
offspring that are of little interest, and others will not breed at all.

To find out more about how the sexual recombination works, please refer to the
"Technical" file).

There are options in the control window for controlling the rate of mutation
and whether mutations should be allowed to affect the texture, its palette or
both.  There is also a "STOP" button which may be employed (when illuminated)
instead of the ESCAPE button to terminate long processes.

2.3 Hotkey operations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are a number of hotkeys that are recognised by the system to assist
users familiar with them to execute common operations more rapidly.

Firstly, ESCAPE often provides an abortive action either when dragging or in
the midst of any time consuming operation.

Next, various function keys provide short cuts to useful functions as follows:

  F1 - Shows the palette manipulation dialogue-box [TextureGdn.Palette].
  F2 - Save sprite [TextureGdn.SaveSprite].
  F3 - Save text [TextureGdn.SaveText].
       (also SHIFT-F3: save text with no prompt).
  F4 - Save animation [TextureGdn.Animation].
  F5 - [Options.Screen].
  F6 - [Options.Output].
  F7 - [Options.Animation].
  F8 - [Options.Templates].
  F9 - Loads the texture's textfile generation program into a text editor.
 F10 - Copies options to preferences [Options.CopyOpts].

Items in square brackets indicate the equivalent menu options.

Operations F1, F2, F3, F4 and F9 will be applied to the texture under the
pointer at the time the hot key is pressed.

3.0 Options
~~~~~~~~~~~
There are currently options to control a number of aspects of the program's
operation.  Most of these are available through the options menu which may
normally be accessed by pressing menu over a blank area of the control panel
or the main window.

Options take effect when the "OK" icon is clicked on.  They may be copied to
the preferences which may then be saved to disc.
This saves the positions and states of the other windows as well, enabling
them to be set up as the user wishes.

There are four main section of options available through the menu: "General",
"Output", "Animation" and "Templates".  These mirror the settings in the
preferences windows.  These are explained below.

4.0 Preferences
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Preferences are options which may be saved to disc.
The preferences window may be accessed by means of an ADJUST-click on the icon
bar icon, or through the icon bar menu by selecting the "Prefs..." entry.

Preferences may be copied to the options of the main program by clicking on
the "Set" icon.
They may be saved by clicking on the "Save" icon.

There are four main section of preferences: "General", "Output", "Animation"
and "Templates".  These are on separate pages which can be flipped between by
clicking on their headings.

                       General
                       ~~~~~~~
An item in the preferences window controls the default value of the "Screen
blanking" option.  On older series machines some increase in speed of texture
generation may be obtained (at the cost of display continuity) by the use of
this option.

Options for altering if and when the options menu is displayed may be
changed from here.

Preferences affecting how the program starts up may be altered from here.

The default settings of the mutator are also set up here.

                       Output
                       ~~~~~~
There are a number of settings controlling how textfiles are exported from
the program on the left-hand side of this window.

The default settings of the "Use ChangeFSI" option may be changed from here.
This option controls post-processing of saved sprites and animations.
This option is normally set from the "SaveSprite" Dialogue box.
The !ChangeFSI-associated string may be altered and details about how to do
this are in the "Technical" file, which should be read in conjunction with
the documentation to !ChangeFSI.

The JPEG preferences are intended to provide a simple interface for those who
do not wish to concern themselves unnecessarily with command-line options.

There are two preferences which change the default settings of the options
allowing the export of 16 or 24 bit colour sprites.  These settings are
discussed further in the "Technical" file.

                       Animation
                       ~~~~~~~~~
The default number of frames and the default animation type may be controlled
from here.  The values actually used may be altered from the menu obtained by
clicking with MENU over an animating icon, or from the [Options.Animation]
menu.  For more information on animation see the "Technical" file.

                       Templates
                       ~~~~~~~~~
A number of combinations of sizes and shapes of the areas of the main window
which display textures may be selected between, and several sizes of control
window are available.

5.0 A brief index to the rest of the documentation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
File:       : Description:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
!Help       : This file.  Contains basic operating instructions and hints
!Index     : This file contains an expanded index with extended descriptions
Contact    : Ways of communicating with the author
Distribute : Describes the distribution channels of extensions and textures
Extensions : How to write your own extensions to the texture language
Features   : List of the good features of this program (more sales talk)
Files      : A list of the files you should have received with this program
History    : Tales of previous versions of the program
Technical  : Details not covered in "Language" or "Extensions"
Language   : Syntax, grammar, and vocabulary of the texture language
License    : Please read before copying this program
Plans       : Details of my hopes, dreams and future development plans
Problems   : List of the not-so-good "features" of this program
Register   : Sales talk trying to persuade you to send cash to the author
Reg_Form   : You can register the Texture Garden program using this form
TreeShaped : Discussion of the virtues of employing tree-shaped chromosomes
Versions   : Describes the various versions which are available

Enjoy

© Tim Tyler 1996.
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